April 23, 2021
AMBITUS luminaire by Rainlight Studio for Zumtobel wins ‘Best of the Best’ at prestigious Red Dot Awards
Rainlight Studio has been awarded the ‘Best of the Best’ product prize at this year’s Red Dot Awards for AMBITUS, an innovative high performance luminaire designed for Austrian manufacturer Zumtobel, combining state-of-the-art technology within a nuanced form. Yorgo Lykouria, founder and creative director of Rainlight, collaborated with Zumtobel, one of the world’s most well-respected lighting manufacturers, over a ten-year period to create AMBITUS, distinctive because of its compact profile and circular shape to emit maximum light distribution, in a sector dominated by linear forms. (more…)
Just as the pandemic has forced many to re-think their relationship to the office, developers and building owners have been forced to reassess the service they offer to meet the altered needs of occupiers, according to research by 
If a robot worker makes a mistake on the job, or annoys customers, businesses may not give it a pink slip and a cardboard box for its office belongings, but companies may be forced to shut down these expensive machines, according to a team of researchers. Knowing how to better design and manage these robots may help service industry firms both avoid losing their investments in the robots, as well as secure an increasingly necessary source of extra help, the team added. 
British Land has announced that JLL has chosen 1 Broadgate for its new UK flagship office. JLL, the global real estate services firm, has signed an agreement for lease for 134,000 sq ft on a 15 year term, representing a pre-let of nearly a third of the office space. 
A new survey of many of the world’s leading real estate investors finds that 92 percent of respondents expect demand for healthy buildings to grow in the next three years. The report claims that this is a compelling signal of the direction the real estate sector is heading. This finding, among others, is captured in a report titled 
The productivity benefits of homeworking appear to have increased during the pandemic, with employers now more likely to say that the shift to homeworking has boosted productivity (33 percent) than they were in June 2020 (28 percent). This is according to new research by the 
The UK government has had to make many changes to its healthcare system in the last year to stop the spread of coronavirus, including asking people to stay home when possible, prioritising higher-risk patients and putting many routine appointments on pause throughout the pandemic. 
A new report from think tank Demos and Legal & General calls on the UK Government to back policy change that supports growth of hybrid working and local offices to drive forward its plans for regeneration and economic growth. The report, 
With workplaces up and down the country now following new rules and regulations – and with online meetings also the order of the day – colleagues everywhere may be feeling demotivated. 
April 28, 2021
The hybrid workplace sagas, part two. Valhalla
by Neil Usher • Comment, Flexible working
“Wow, Dougie, they’ve remodelled our office while we were away!”
“Fantastic. Did you know about it?”
“No, they said the surprise was a key part of the change programme.”
“So what’s different?” (more…)